In one of the strangest stories in his strange gospel, Mark records the two-stage healing of a blind man by Jesus in Bethsaida (Mark 8:22?26). Jesus? first healing action of spitting on the man?s eyes and laying hands on them is only partially successful; the man now sees something, but what he sees is people who look like walking trees (8:24). His vision is still unclear, so Jesus must repeat the therapy, this time with more felicitous results:
"He looked intently (dieblepsen) and was restored (apekateste) and he began to see (eneblepen) everything clearly (telaugos)" (8:25).
This passage has a widely noticed tautology between dieblepsen and eneblepsen, which also has the imperfective verb eneblepen coming after the aorist apekateste implying that the sight was already completely restored. Is this just a tautology, perhaps suggesting an increasing ability to discern objects, or is there more meaning in the passage than appears at first glance?
The clue to a more adequate interpretation comes from the realization that the passage assumes the extramission theory of vision. According to this common ancient theory, people and animals see not by means of light rays that travel from the external object to the eye, as modern optics would have it, but by means of beams that come out of the eye, travel to the object of sight, and strike it, thereby producing vision. Both among philosophers and common people, this theory seems to have been the dominant one. Plato (Timaeus 45c-d) argued that the beam remained anchored in the eye from which it had issued (btw it should be clarified that Plato, Philo, and certain other writers assume a compromise theory in which light both exits and enters the eye). Extramissionistic language occurs occasionally in the OT. Thus Psalm 38:10 reads: "My heart pounds, my strength fails me, even the light has gone from my eyes." During the Hellenistic period, we find more frequent allusion to extramissionism. In Daniel 10:6, an angel is described as having "eyes like flaming torches". Wisdom 11:18 refers to wild beasts "flashing fearful sparks from their eyes", and 1 Enoch 106:2, 5 described the son of Lamech as having "eyes like the rays of the sun", so that "when he opened them the whole house glowed like the sun". 4 Baruch 7:3 refers to the "gleam of your eyes" and similar expressions occur in rabbinical literature (cf. b. Baba Mezia 59b). Extramissionistic language also occurs in the NT, particularly in the proto-gnostic concept of light of the soul shining through the eyes. The clearest example is in Matthew 6:22-23 (= Q 11:34-35), paralleled also in the Gospel of Thomas:
"The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light (photeinon). But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness (skoteinon). If then the light (phos) within you is darkness, how great is that darkness (skotos)!" (Matthew 6:22-23)
"There is light (phos) within a man of light, and he lights up the whole world (photizei to kosmo holo). If he does not shine (photizei), he is in darkness (skoteinos)." (Gospel of Thomas 24:3)
In Q, the eye serves as the "lamp" (lukhnos) of the body -- a strikingly explicit expression of extramissionism. In Thomas, men of light "shine" and "light up the whole world," alluding again (in a more figurative manner, without mentioning the "eyes") to the manner in which eyes cast light on what is beheld. In both cases, the "light" relates to truth and righteousness, reminiscent of the proto-gnostic language in John and 1 John and in Essene literature; i.e. "Those born of truth spring from a fountain of light, but those born of falsehood spring from a source of darkness" (1QS 3:13). The extramissionistic sense is muted further in the Dialogue of the Savior, in which the light-bearing organ is instead the mind: "The lamp of the body is the mind, as long as you are upright of heart, through which your bodies are lights. As long as your mind is darkness, the light you wait for will not be" (125:8-126:1).
Now, according to Joel Marcus, the passage in Mark 8:25 actually uses terminology from Greek extramissionary theory. The passage states: "He looked intently and was restored, and he began to see (eneblepen) everything clearly (telaugos)." The principal sign of the presence of this optical theory in our passage is the word telaugos (a hapax legomenon in the NT) which literally means "in a far-shining way"; it is a compound of tele- "at a distance" and -auge "shining light, radiance". This adverb, the corresponding adjective telauges "far-shining, far-beaming" and cognate words occur most often in poetic descriptions of the radiance of the sun, or of the gods, people, and things that are like it in brightness or splendor. Thus Hesiod (Homeric Hymns, 31.13) uses it to refer to the "far-shining face" (prosopon telauges) of the sun god, as well as the "far-gleaming raiment" (heimata telaugea) of the moon goddess (32.8). Aristophanes (Avia, 1092) describes the summer sun's hot "far-beaming ray" (aktis telauges). Pindar described the spendor of particular people as like "a light outshining that of a heavenly star" (asteros ouraniou ... telaugesteron phaos) and "a far-shining light" (telauges ... phengos) (cf. Pythian Odes 3.75-9; Nemean Odes 3.64). Moreover the Greek lexicographer Suidas defined telauges as lian lampon "exceedingly radiant" and porrothen phainon "visible from afar". In the latter sense, we find Sophocles (Trachiniae, op. cit.) using it to refer to a slave-girl on a hill and Theognis of Megara attributing it to a messenger on a lookout (Selections, 550). Unlike many cases where etymological meanings fail to reflect common usage, the literal meaning of telaugos was the predominant one, as Suidas and most texts show. Philo of Alexandria uses telaugos to refer to spiritual perception, and does so in a way that manifests an extramission theory of vision:
"To God as in pure sunlight all things are manifest. For already he has pierced into the recesses of our soul, and things that are invisible to others he is able to discern with his far-beaming sight (telaugos)." (Unchangeableness of God, 29)
"For, seeing that the eyes formed out of perishable matter obtained so great reach as to travel from the earthly region to heaven, that is so far away, and to touch its bounds, how vast must we deem the flight in all directions of the eyes of the soul? The strong yearning to perceive the Existent One with far-beaming vision (to on katidein telaugos) gives them wings to attain not only to the furthest region of the upper air, but to overpass the very bounds of the entire universe and speed away toward the Uncreate." (Noah's Work as a Planter, 22)
"For as the sun when it has risen shows clearly the objects which night hides, so the mind sending forth its proper light causes all forms and conditions to be apprehended with clear and far-beaming sight (telaugos ... katalambanesthai)." (Posterity and Exile of Cain, 57)
As Joel Marcus points out, these passages (1) imply that physical sight is not a passive sense but an active one, involving something that moves out from the eye and ranges over the universe, explores everything, pierces the darkness, etc., (2) often compare this physical sight with the radiance of sunlight, (3) uses this radiant physical sight as a metaphor for spiritual comprehension, (4) employ telaug- words as part of this imagery, with a meaning that is closely related to their etymology ("far-beaming").
This brings us back to Mark 8:25, which is the only text in the NT that uses the term telaugos/telauges. The term is also rare in the Septuagint, occuring only once in Job, twice in the Psalms, and 5 times in Leviticus. In nearly all cases, it refers to the emitting or reflection of light. In Leviticus, it refers to leprous "shiny shots" (cf. 13:2, 4, 19, 23-24). In Job 37:21, it refers to light rays breaking through dark clouds when "the wind comes, sweeping the [clouds] away, and brightness (telauges) spreads from the north". In Psalm 18:12 reference is made to "radiant brightness" (telaugesis), or lightnings, that issue from the Lord in the storm. The final text is the only one that connects telauges with the light of the "eyes": "The precepts of the Lord are upright, joy for the heart; the commandment of the Lord is far-shining (telauges), light for the eyes (photizousa ophthalmous)" (Psalm 19:8; LXX). While most modern readers would interpret the light as external rays beheld by the eyes, the text itself shows that the light is internal, for use by the eyes. This is because in v. 7-8, "light for the eyes" is paralleled with other qualities internal to the person: "new life for the soul," "wisdom for the simple," "joy for the heart". Like joy in the heart, wisdom in the mind, or life in the soul, God's commandments are promised to provide light for the eyes to enable them to figuratively perceive the world. So within the Septuagint telauges/telaugos occurs with the same meaning as in Philo and classical Greek writers. In view of these parallels, it seems reasonable to suppose that in Mark 8:25 telegos has its usual meaning, and should be translated as ?with far-beaming sight',and that the extramission theory of vision is implied. According to this exegesis, at the conclusion of our Markan narrative the formerly blind man is able to see clearly because his vision has become ?far-beaming?, i.e. the internal light beams have been freed of the impediments that restricted them, so that they can travel the necessary distance to objects in the external world, and vision can ensue. The situation experienced by the blind is thus similar to that described by Plato (Timaeus 45d-e) who wrote that "the eyelids, when they are shut light, curb the power of the inner fire". That Mark assumes a long-antiquated theory of optics is not at all unusual considering its cultural milieu.
Understanding that the text assumes not intromission but extramission, the seeming tautology between dieblepsen ... kai eneblepsen receives new light. The first verb dieblepsen literally means "saw through". In line with the above, this suggests that the man's sight-beams have broken through the barriers (cataracts?) in his eyes, or where those barriers had formerly been, so that the rays can travel unimpeded to the objects of sight in the outside world. The only other occurrence of the verb in the NT supports this understanding:
"How can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye,' when you do not notice the log that is in your eye? Hypocrite, first remove (ekbale) the log from your eye, and then you will see through (diablepseis) to remove the speck from your brother's eye." (Q 6:41-42 = Matthew 7:3-5; cf. Gospel of Thomas 26:1-2)
Here, as in Mark 8:25, the topic is the removal of a visual impediment, in this case a log in one's own eye, so that the internal light ray can freely make its way to an extermal object, the speck in the brother's eye. A striking example from classical literature involving the synonym diorosi "see through" can be found in Xenophon, Anabasis 5.2.29-30: "Their shields of bronze would now and then gleam through (diephainonto) the bushes, so the enemy seeing through to these things (tauta diorontes) were fearful." Diablepein is rarer than telaugos, being absent in the rest of the NT, the entire Septuagint, and the writings of Philo, who all generally use anablepein or blepein. The use of these two unusual words in the same text thus contributes to the vividness in describing the process of the restoration of sight. The third verb, eneblepen, is fairly uncommon and it is the one that is modified by telaugos -- and it describes successful sight-inducting contact between eye rays with external objects (cf. the prefix en- "in, on" which suggests penetration or contact). Sirach 42:18 uses the term to mean "observe": "The Most High knows all the knowledge there is, and has observed (eneblepsen) the signs of the times". Outside of the Markan text, eneblepen occurs only 9 times in the NT, including Luke 22:61, which says that "the Lord turned and looked (eneblepsen) at Peter," and Acts 22:11 which intriguingly refers to blinding external light rays as preventing Paul from seeing anything: "I could not see (eneblepon) because of the brightness of that light".
So turning back to the original text, Marcus suggests interpreting Mark 8:25 the following way, doing justice to the unusual choice of words in the text: "And his vision broke through (dieblepsen) and was restored, and the far-shining beams (telaugos) of his sight began to reach (eneblepsen) everything in view."